Bassekou Kouyate

By The World  January 22, 2010

Malian musician Bassekou Kouyate has made his mark with the West African lute – the ngoni … not by playing traditional music on the ancient instrument, but by exploring its potential with among other styles like Western music. Anchor Marco Werman has details.

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US TOUR DATES:

02/02, Tue: Durango, CO Fort Lewis College *With Béla Fleck
02/03, Wed: Santa Fe, NM Lensic Performing Arts Center *With Béla Fleck
02/04, Thu: Fort Collins, CO Aggie Theatre *With Béla Fleck
02/05, Fri: Aspen, CO Wheeler Theatre *With Béla Fleck
02/06, Sat: Grand Junction, CO Avalon Theater *With Béla Fleck
02/08, Mon: Boulder, CO Boulder Theatre *With Béla Fleck
02/10, Wed: Dallas, TX Granada Theatre *With Béla Fleck
02/11, Thu: Oxford, MS Lyric Theatre *With Béla Fleck
02/12, Fri: Murray, UT Murray Theater
02/13, Sat: Lawrence, KS Liberty Hall *With Béla Fleck
02/14, Sun: Urbana, IL Canopy Club *With Béla Fleck
02/16, Tue: Cleveland, OH House of Blues *With Béla Fleck
02/17, Wed: Ann Arbor, MI University of Michigan-Hill Auditorium *With Béla Fleck
02/18, Thu: Athens, OH Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium *With Béla Fleck
02/19, Fri: Indianapolis, IN Butler University/Clowes Hall *With Béla Fleck
02/20, Sat: Omaha, NE Holland PAC *With Béla Fleck
02/21, Sun: Chicago, IL Old Town School of Folk Music *With Béla Fleck
02/22, Mon: Hamilton, OH Miami University-Parrish Auditorium
02/24, Wed: Wilmington, DE Grand Opera House *With Béla Fleck
02/25, Thu: Storrs, CT U Conn-Storrs/Jorgenson Center for Performing Arts *With Béla Fleck
02/26, Fri: Wilmington, DE Grand Opera House *With Béla Fleck
02/27, Sat: Lewisburg, PA Bucknett University-Weis Center *With Béla Fleck
03/01, Mon: Ottawa, ON CND Dominion-Chalmers United Church *With Béla Fleck
03/02, Tue: Brunswick, ME Bowdoin College *With Béla Fleck
03/03, Wed: State College, PA Eisenhower Auditorium *With Béla Fleck
03/04, Thu: Roanoke, VA Jefferson Center *With Béla Fleck
03/05, Fri: Frederick, MD Weinberg Center *With Béla Fleck

03/06, Sat: Atlanta, GA Rialto Center *With Béla Fleck
03/08, Mon: Orlando, FL Plaza Theater
03/09, Tue: Fort Pierce, FL Sunrise Theatre
03/10, Wed: Jacksonville, FL Florida Theater
03/11, Thu: Tuscsaloosa, AL BAMA Theater
03/12, Fri: Asheville, NC Orange Peel
03/16, Tue: Seattle, WA The Triple Door
03/18, Thu: San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
03/19, Fri: Santa Cruz, CA Rio Theater
03/20, Sat: Los Angeles, CA Getty Center
03/21, Sun: Los Angeles, CA Getty Center
03/26, Fri: New York, NY Zankel Hall (at Carnegie Hall)
03/27, Sat: Somerville, MA Somerville Theater
03/28, Sun: Rockland, ME The Strand
03/31, Wed: Burlington, VT Flynn Center for the Performing Arts
04/02, Fri: Savannah, GA Savannah Music Festival
04/03, Sat: Savannah, GA Savannah Music Festival
04/07, Wed: St. Louis, MO Lee Theatre, Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center
04/10, Sat: Minneapolis, MN The Cedar
04/15, Thu: Las Cruces, NM NMSU Music Recital Hall

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN:  I’m Marco Werman and this is The World.  The n’goni is a West African spike lute and in Mali where traditional music for the n’goni abounds, Bassekou Kouyate is a star of the instrument.  Kouyate is a griot.  He comes from a long line of musicians and storytellers, but he made his mark with the n’goni, not as a traditionalist but as a modernist.  Kouyate has done a lot to make the ancient n’goni a versatile instrument for the 21^st century.  For starters, he put a strap on it so he could play it standing up, like a rock guitarist and he has explored Western sounds with it, jamming with a diverse roster of American musicians from banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck, to country music star, Bonnie Raitt.  Kouyate came to our London studios and shared some of his love for American traditional music with us.

BASSEKOU KOUYATE:  You like it?

WERMAN:  I like it; I’ve got B.B. King on the telephone.  He says he wants his n’goni back.

KOUYATE:  Thank you.

WERMAN:  Bassekou Kouyate, you are a magician of the n’goni.  Tell us what is the n’goni.  What does it look like?

KOUYATE:  Okay, [INDISCERNIBLE], I’m sorry for my English.

SPEAKER:  The n’goni usually has four strings but I added three so mine has seven strings.  It’s made with wood and cow’s skin stretched over the front.  The strings used to come from a horse tail but now we use fish line.

WERMAN:  And you have actually kind of innovated a bass n’goni, is that right?

SPEAKER:  Yes, we created a bass version.  We needed it because we always say that for a band, we need guitars, bass guitars and drums or Western instrument so I created a new African instrument we could use in a band.

WERMAN:  How did you get to the idea though that you would take this traditional instrument, the n’goni which is usually played pretty slowly, I understand, and adapt it to play really quickly with excitement, in almost a Jimmy Hendrix style?

SPEAKER:  Well it’s my work, my idea.  My approach and technique are different from my father’s and grandfather’s.  They made sure to pass on the great traditional Malian stories and songs, but they never Mali.  I have traveled the world so I have expanded the n’goni’s repertoire.  For example, my father and grandfather did not know swordfish but I do so instead of using Malian names for notes or chords, I use standard music notation.  Now it’s the same “C” whether you are here, in the U.S. or Japan, it’s much easier to learn the instrument and to understand one another when you play with other musicians.

WERMAN: You played in Ali Farikurte’s band for a number of years.  He was also kind of a musical adventurer.  How much credit do you give him for introducing you or at least kind of changing your musical ideas regarding the n’goni?

SPEAKER:  Ali was a great n’goni player and he always loved my music.  Before he died, he gave me great advice.  He even invited me to play on his album, Savanne.  One morning, I was asked to meet him at the recording studio.  We practiced his title song, Savanne, for about two minutes and then right away, we recorded the whole album together.  He even gave me solos.  Ali loved me and helped me as if I was his little brother.  After he died, when I made my first album, [SOUNDS LIKE] Siglublu, I dedicated a song to him.

WERMAN:  So let’s talk about the new album.  It’s called “I Speak Fula.”  Why did you write the title in English if you speak Fula?

SPEAKER:  In Mali, there are many different ethnic groups, [SOUNDS LIKE] Mande, Buel, Songay and so on.  In the song, I speak Fula.  I tell the story of a man from [SOUNDS LIKE] Debamana ethnic group who is trying to approach this beautiful girl in his village.  The girl is from the Fula ethnic group and she tells him he should find a girl of his own kind and he basically replies that if she follows him into his bed, he will show her that they have no problem speaking the same language.  There are always people who use ethnic heritage as a way to separate themselves from others and I really don’t like that.  Love has no borders or language issues.

WERMAN:  N’goni player extraordinaire, Bassekou Kouyate, the new album is called “I Speak Fula.”  Thank you very much for speaking with me.

KOUYATE:  Thank you, bro.

WERMAN:  Watch out American rock ‘n rollers.  Bassekou Kouyate warns he’s coming to these shores.  He begins a whopping 50 city tour next month.  There are more details on our website, TheWorld.org.  Our theme music was composed by Eric Goldberg.  The World is produced by Andrew Sussman, with Rhitu Chatterjee, Andrea Crossan, Joyce Hackel, Carol Hills, David Leveille, April Peavey, Adeline Sire, Traci Tong and Carol Zall.  Anne Lopez is our director; our editors are Ken Bader, David Baron, Jennifer Goren and Peter Thomson.  William Troop is senior editor, Chris Woolf, news editor.  Our managing editor is Jonathan Dyer.  The executive producer of The World is Bob Ferrante.  From the Nan and Bill Harris Studios at WGBH, I’m Marco Werman.  Have a great weekend.